Issue 3/2026, News
The birth of a baby sperm whale captured in groundbreaking video footage
Mar
Scientists managed to film the birth of a sperm whale off the coast of Dominica. What surprised them most was that the entire whale family took part in the delivery, clearly helping the mother. The discovery sheds new light on social relationships among cetaceans.
An extraordinary ocean spectacle
The entire event took place in July 2023, but only now have the footage and the accompanying scientific analysis been published. Its authors are researchers involved in the CETI project, focused on recording and analyzing communication between sperm whales. As one of them, Dr Shane Gero, recalls, it is not common for the whole family to be together. So I knew something was going on. And then there was a sudden spurt of blood, a small head emerged, and the tail flukes came out of the water.
In the article published on March 26 this year in the journal Scientific Reports, scientists note that so far births have been directly observed in only 10 percent of wild cetacean species. The recorded sperm whale birth lasted 34 minutes, and the mother was accompanied by an entire group of 11 individuals. The event was filmed from the air using drones, and additional material was provided by underwater audio recordings.
The birth of a sperm whale as evidence of close social bonds
Female sperm whales form multigenerational social groups that stay together throughout their lives. Surprisingly, the group of cetaceans observed by CETI researchers also included younger males, which shows that family bonds are stronger than previously assumed.
During the birth, the whales loudly expressed their support for the mother, named Rounder by the observers. The vocalizations recorded by the researchers are an extremely valuable resource for further studies on the social lives of cetaceans.
The filmed sperm whale birth has a happy ending. A year later, the CETI team managed to observe the young whale in the company of its aunt and half-sister. Successfully getting through the most dangerous period of early life suggests that the young sperm whale, whose sex has not yet been determined, will live to adulthood.
Source:
Aluma, Y., Baron, Z., Barrett, R. et al. Description of a collaborative sperm whale birth and shifts in coda vocal styles during key events. Sci Rep 16, 9206 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-27438-3
